Notification 2025-116

Dear Sir or Madam,

Recalling decisions 16/25, CP-11/5 and NP-5/10 where Parties requested the Executive Secretary to facilitate an orientation or training session for chairs and other facilitators “to familiarize them with the rules of procedure and established practices, techniques and skills in the areas of managing multilateral negotiations and facilitating consensus, with a view to ensuring ethical approaches and impartiality, in accordance with United Nations standards and principles…”, I am pleased to inform Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its Protocols that the Centre for Multilateral Negotiations (CEMUNE), in coordination with the Secretariat, will be offering a foundational online training course on “Effective Negotiation Management” on 2 October 2025. 

The training course will focus on best practices and toolkits to enhance capabilities for chairing multilateral negotiations.  The course will cover seven dimensions for effective negotiation management,  and supported by sharing chairing experience built within the Convention and applying theory to CBD negotiations in practice. 

To accommodate all time zones as much as possible, the training course will be offered in two online sessions as follows:

• Session 1 (2 October 2025): 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Montreal (EDT)
• Session 2 (2 October 2025): 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Montreal (EDT)

Each session will consist of 3 hours, each with a short break time.  The session will be delivered in English only due to limited resources available.

The sessions are open to all interested participants, who are invited to register through the following link: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/R2gafZfH6a as soon as possible, but no later than 30 September 2025. Registered participants will receive a link to connect to the online platform and obtain the materials related to the course. 

Please accept, Sir, Madam, the assurances of my highest consideration.

(Signed) Astrid Schomaker

Executive Secretary